First Impression:

Resumes in Action

Presenter: Andrew Dauphinee

Date: 9/11/2019

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Objectives

• After today, you’ll be able to:

• Identify the components of a resume

• Identify the 3 most common types of resumes

• Transform your resume

• Tailor your resume to specific jobs

• Identify the components of a cover letter

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What is a resume?

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What is a resume?

• Your “Brand”

• A summary of your work history, skills, education, and

professional achievements

• Oftentimes, it is your first impression

• Must impress

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Major Resume Components

• Heading/Contact Information

• Work History

• Professional Experience/Skills

• Education

• Other Information

(volunteer/coursework/certifications)

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Types of Resumes

• There are 3 common types of resumes

• Chronological

• Functional

• Hybrid

• Which do you have?

• Which is best?

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Chronological Resume

• Prioritize work history

• Short/no gaps in employment

• Increasing skills/advancement

• Most common type of resume

• Easier to read/interpret

• Useful for jobs in traditional industries (accounting, finance, engineering)

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Chronological Resume

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Functional Resume

• Emphasize skills and learned knowledge over work history

• Transferrable skills that work across most/all jobs

• Specified skills that unique/important for a specific field/job

• Less importance on work history

• Good for people with gaps in work history or looking to chance careers

• Useful for creative-focused jobs, such as design, computer programming, and marketing

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Functional Resume

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Hybrid Resume

• Combines relevant experience and skills/knowledge

• Very flexible and allows for customization

• Able to showcase professional advancement

• Allows for more succinct professional experience to

allow room for other information, such as volunteer

activities

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Hybrid Example

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Transforming Your Resume

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Transforming Your

Resume - Why• Resume is a living and breathing document

• Resume should be structured to showcase the best

parts of you that relate to the specific job in the most

succinct way

• Each industry/job has different requirements and skills

that may best be communicated through a different

format

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Transforming Your

Resume - How• Determine which resume is the best fit for the

job/industry you are interested in

• Create a separate list of skills from your job duties and

responsibilities

• This will allow you to easily shift from Chronological to

either Hybrid or Functional

• Include both hard and soft skills

• Practice, practice, practice

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Tailoring Your Resume

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Tailoring Your

Resume - Why• Each job will have specific skills and requirements you need

to address, based on the job description

• Need to use technical language or industry/job specific jargon

• Many companies use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that specifically look for the keywords listed in the job description to filter out candidates

• Even if you are a qualified candidate, you may not get past the ATS

• Hiring managers will be able to tell a tailored resume from a generic one

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Tailoring Your

Resume - How• Include the title of the position somewhere on your resume

• If you held that position before, great

• If not, you can include it in the Heading or Summary

• Print out the job description and highlight keywords, skills, and other important requirements, including numerical qualifiers – years of experience, number of supervised employees, etc.

• Go through your resume and highlight any matching terms, skills, or qualifications

• Rework your headings, lists, and descriptions to include the exact words, in the same tense, as the job description

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What Should We Do?

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Resume Formatting

• Keep to 1 page, unless job is more involved, then no more

than 2

• Use sans serif fonts, such as Courier, Times New Roman, or

Helvitica

• Keep font size between 10-12, except for major headings

(14)

• Adjust margins as needed to fit all of your information on 1

page if possible, but be aware that some printers may not

recognize text outside of .5’’ margins

• Be consistent with verb tense and dates

• The more graphic the resume, the higher chance it will be

unreadable or altered if opened in a different program

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Electronic Resume Formatting

• Applicant Tracking Systems will try and pull

information from your resume to populate fields or into

a standard format for viewing

• Use sans serif fonts to ensure words are accurately

transcribed

• Keep the same font style, even for headings

• Save as a .txt file to remove any formatting issues

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Cover Letter

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Cover Letter Basics

• Cover letters should compliment, not duplicate your

resume

• Reference the job title in the first paragraph and show

your interest in the company or organization

• Briefly explain your skills, qualifications, and/or

accomplishments and how they relate to the job

• Express confidence in yourself to do the job, thank

reader for their time, and invite them to follow-up

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Cover Letter Basics Cont.

• Address cover letter as specifically as you can,

including individual name, company name, and

address

• Should not exceed 1 page

• Same format/font as your resume

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Summary

• Pick the resume format that best fits your work

experience, skills, and the job you are applying for

• Qualify your duties to include metrics to demonstrate

the effectiveness of your skills/accomplishments

• Tailor your resume and cover letter to every job

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Thank You

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